Obama Uses The Media As Surrogates To Attack Mitt Romney's Faith And Family

The Obama administration knows it cannot launch personal attacks on Mitt Romney's faith or family. However, given that President Obama has a very cozy relationship with the media in which 19 journalists and media executives either work in the administration or in political groups connected to the White House, its not surprising that some people believe that the Obama administration is using the media as a surrogate or proxy to attack Mitt Romney in ways that they do on their own.  

Now that the general election has started, the media wasted no time in going after Mitt Romney. In a multi-pronged attack, they went after his religion and his wife. When it comes to Mitt Romney's faith, the media has intentionally mislead its views on the facts about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The most egregious example is Larry O’Donnell's offensive and dishonest description of how the LDS Church got started: 

Not surprisingly, it took a Mormon Congressman from Idaho, Represenative Raul Labrador, to call out MSNBC to its face for allowing blatant religious bigotry to be spewed on the air: 

The media is obsessed with Mitt Romney's faith not because they are intrigued or fascinated by the religion but they think that they can use people's unfamiliarity about the Mormon religion as a way of turning voters away from Mitt Romney. However, that strategy won't work because people are seeing right through the media and know that this isn't news reporting but a propaganda campaign against Mitt Romney. 

A few days after the media went after Mitt Romney's faith, they decided to get ever more personal with Mitt Romney by inviting DNC advisor Hilary Rosen to come on CNN to talk about how both candidates are trying to win the female vote: 

Here's the full quote from Hilary Rosen:

With respect to economic issues, I think actually that Mitt Romney is right that ultimately women care more about the economic well-being of their family and the like.  But he doesn't connect on that issue, either.  What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country saying well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that's what I'm hearing.  Guess what?  His wife has actually never worked a day in her life.  She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why we worry about their future.

After Hilary Rosen's comments, Ann Romney quickly responded and did not hold back either on twitter and on television interviews: 

 

Despite the massive negative response from the media and news commentators, Hilary Rosen doubled down on her comments before she finally offered a faux apology:

“Let’s put the faux ‘war against stay at home moms’ to rest once and for all. As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is. As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen. In response to Mitt Romney on the campaign trail referring to his wife as a better person to answer questions about women than he is, I was discussing his poor record on the plight of women’s financial struggles. Here is my more fulsome view of the issues. As a partner in a firm full of women who work outside of the home as well as stay at home mothers, all with plenty of children, gender equality is not a talking point for me. It is an issue I live every day. I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended. Let’s declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance.”

However, Rosen's half hearted passive-aggressive apology may not be enough to undo the damage that may have occurred with female independent and democratic voters. As a result, the White House is doing damage control by trying to distance themselves from her as fast as possible. Yet, it is impossible for them to do so because Hilary is well connected to the Obama administration.

Last year, it was revealed that Obama planned on attacking Mitt Romney's faith but that idea was immediately ridiculed. However, a year later and with the hopes of their plans for Mitt Romney has faded from public memory, we see the media going after Mitt Romney's faith. Its also not surprising that the close triangular relationship between Obama, the media and Hilary Rosen has resulted in an attack on Ann Romney.

The quiet but orchestrated attacks on Mitt Romney are starting to back fire on Obama especially when it comes to the trying to win the female vote. As a result of Hilary Rosen's comments, she has made it harder for the Obama administration to attract female voters because women are very much in tune with the economy whether they are stay at home mothers  or work outside of the home. Women are very aware of how the national economy affects the economy of the home because they are the ones who typically, but not always, balance the checkbook, buy the groceries, gas up the car and pay the bills. 

In the end, Hilary Rosen's attempt to make Ann Romney look like she is out of touch with women across this country only exposed how out of touch Hilary, and by extension, the Obama Administration,  is with women. 

More Female On Female Misogyny: Joy Behar & Sharron Angle

Men and women can be victims of sexism by the other gender. However, it also occurs between people of the same gender. Sometimes, women themselves are the biggest offenders of sexism towards other women. I explored that topic earlier and its worth revisiting again. 

Recently, Joy Behar, one of the commentators on the television show "The View," called the Republican challenger to Harry Reid, Sharron Angle, a "bitch" who should go to "hell." Watch the clip below:

The interesting thing about this event is that feminist groups from both the left and the right end of the political spectrum are outraged over Joy Behar's sexist comments:

Amy Siskind, president of the feminist group The New Agenda, told The Daily Caller she was appalled by Behar’s language calling it sexist and insulting.

“I think the remarks are completely and utterly unacceptable and I think she should — by tomorrow — be on the air with an apology to Sharron Angle and to the women of this country,” Siskind said. “The ‘b-word’ has no place in our national dialogue, and especially when she was using it in a very pointed way here to demean another woman.”

The president of a more conservative women’s group, The Kitchen Cabinet, Sonja Eddings Brown, was similarly distressed by The View co-host’s language, chalking her sentiment up to politics.

“We thought Joy Behar was a classier act than this,” Brown wrote in an e-mail to TheDC. “What is it that makes conservative women, who work inside and outside of the home, such a threat to liberal women like Joy? What has Sharron Angle done to deserve being described so profanely by Ms. Behar?”

Sharron Angle had a different response to Joy Behar's sexist comments. The female candidate kindly sent Behar some flowers along with a note that read, "Joy, Raised $150,000 online yesterday. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sharron Angle." Apparently, Joy was surprised Sharron Angle's show of kindness.

I find this fascinating because liberal and conservative women were so quick to condemn Joy Behar for her comments; yet, Meg Whitman got a different response from feminists when she was called a whore by Jerry Brown's wife. In that situation, conservative women were outraged whereas liberal feminist were split on their outrage over Mrs. Brown's comments. The local chapter of NOW was troubled about it but ultimately called Meg Whitman a "political whore" whereas the national organization was upset by Mrs. Brown's comments and declared that anyone who uses that term ought to be fired.

Anyone care to explain the difference why feminists on the left and the right were united in their outrage against Joy Behar yet divided in on Mrs. Brown's sexist statement?

Update 10/28/10: Joy Behar apologizes to Sharron Angle for calling her a bitch. See the video below:

Female On Female Misogyny: Jerry Brown's Wife Allegedly Called Meg Whitman A Whore

Some of the most vile offenders of sexism towards women are...other women. 

The most recent example of this is in Califiornia in the gubernatorial campaign where the Brown campaign was stupid enough to let a campaign strategy discussion get caught on tape. In that discussion, someone in Jerry Brown's staff thought it was a good idea to call Meg Whitman a "whore." Well, that mysterious campaign staffer might be none other Jerry Brown's wife, Anne Gust Brown. 

I guess relational aggression isn't for limited to girls in K-12 schools. 

The real fight for equality may not be with men but with other women. Apparently, not all women are equal among women. Kirsten Powers, a liberal feminist, has the intellectual honesty  to recognize this. She recognizes that the some of the most sexist people are on the planet are liberal women who proclaim themselves to be feminists. Yet these women often demean conservative women for simply being women who have their own political opinions. Kirsten Powers provides a short list of examples of liberal feminist  women spewing sexist comments towards conservative women: 

Last month, liberal talk show host Stephanie Miller laughed uproariously when a female guest on her show said that if she ever met Michelle Malkin, “I would kick [her] right in the nuts,” and warned, “Wear a cup, lady.”

Charming.

Or how about this: “You have to lift their skirts to find out if they are women. You sure can’t find out by how they vote.” This is what Democratic Rep. Janis Baird Sontany of Nashville said earlier this year of her female GOP colleagues.

Or this: “Sarah Palin may be a lady, but she ain't no woman,” as Cinta Wilson wrote during the tsunami of anti-Palin hysteria in 2008. In her Salon piece, Wilson went on to refer to the Alaska governor as a “Christian Stepford wife in a ‘sexy librarian’ costume” and the GOP’s “hardcore pornographic centerfold spread.”

So far, California has been ground zero for female on female misogyny. And its coming from California liberals who are supporting Jerry Brown. Clearly, Mrs. Brown's,(if it was her that said it) sexist comment towards Meg Whitman is going to hurt her husband's chances of getting elected. And Gloria Steinem, a long time friend and supporter of Jerry Brown, is another liberal misogynist who recently said conservative women cannot be Feminists. Not that her lawsuit against Meg Whitman helping his campaign either. 

The fact that Jerry Brown got NOW's endorsement the day after the audiotape of the campaign calling Meg Whitman a whore is odd despite the fact that they don't like it when people call a powerful women a prostitute. I doubt the endorsement is going to help Jerry Brown at all. 

Since NOW is willing to align itself with Jerry Brown, they clearly demonstratesthat they don't believe in equality of women among women. They're not fighting for equality. Not for women in relation to men. And certainly not among other women. They are strictly a partisan ideological extension of the liberal left. That's why they're willing to tolerate the misogyny that has been spewing forth from the Jerry Brown campaign. 

Which is why their outrage is reserved for liberal women, not conservative women. Calling a politician a whore is an offensive and misogynist comment...unless you're a conservative woman. Only then is calling a woman a "whore" not an offensive term and is perfectly acceptable among alleged feminists. By supporting Jerry Brown, they're also endorsing the very misogyny they claim to be fighting against. 

California should be proud of the fact that it is many successful women both on the left and the right are competing for the hearts of and minds of its state citizens during this election cycle. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of Ebay, isn't the only successful woman in this election. Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), is competing against Barbra Boxer, a woman who has been the Senator of California for a long time. Anne Gust Brown, a successful business women who used to be the Chief Legal counsel for The Gap, should be proud of this fact, even if her husband is vying to be the next governor of California.

If Anne Gust Brown really believes in equality for women,  among men and women, she should apologize to Meg Whitman for her sexist comment.

UPDATE 10.15.10: NOW just doesn't know when to quit, does it?  The juicy part is below:

Last week, the National Organization for Women and the PAC of the California NOW chapter took heat for their endorsement of state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) over Meg Whitman (R) in the gubernatorial race in the wake of comments by a Brown aide that Whitman was a "whore." At the time, national NOW President Terry O'Neill said that anyone who "from here on" calls a woman a "whore" should be fired.

She might want to have a talk with California NOW President Parry Bellasalma, who today told TPM in response to a question that "Meg Whitman could be described as 'a political whore.' Yes, that's an accurate statement."

Will NOW fire Parry Bellasalma? I hope so. If it doesn't, what is the message NOW will be sending to women? Its not ok for others to call women whores, but its ok  if feminist call other women whores!? That's not acceptable.